Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Commitments and Contingent Liabilities

Lease Commitments: The Company’s lease commitments consist primarily of leased locations under various non-cancellable operating leases that expire between 2017 and 2043. The majority of the leases contain renewal options and provisions for increases in rental rates based on an agreed upon index or predetermined escalation schedule.

Sale-leaseback transaction: On August 24, 2016, the Company sold one of its Washington facilities and leased back the portion of the facility utilized for branch operations. The lease term is through July 2026, with monthly payments of approximately $12 thousand. The resulting gain on sale of $742 thousand was deferred in accordance with the Leases topic of the FASB ASC and is being amortized over the life of the respective lease. At March 31, 2017, the deferred gain was $696 thousand and is a component of "Other liabilities" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Financial Instruments with Off-Balance Sheet Risk: In the normal course of business, the Company makes loan commitments (typically unfunded loans and unused lines of credit) and issues standby letters of credit to accommodate the financial needs of its customers. At March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the Company’s loan commitments amounted to$2.23 billion and $2.17 billion, respectively.

Standby letters of credit commit the Company to make payments on behalf of customers under specified conditions. Historically, no significant losses have been incurred by the Company under standby letters of credit. Both arrangements have credit risk essentially the same as that involved in extending loans to customers and are subject to the Company’s normal credit policies, including collateral requirements, where appropriate. Standby letters of credit were $47.6 million and $49.7 million at March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively. In addition, commitments under commercial letters of credit used to facilitate customers’ trade transactions and other off-balance sheet liabilities amounted to $3.0 million and $3.4 million at March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively.

Legal Proceedings: The Company and its subsidiaries are from time to time defendants in and are threatened with various legal proceedings arising from their regular business activities. Management, after consulting with legal counsel, is of the opinion that the ultimate liability, if any, resulting from these pending or threatened actions and proceedings will not have a material effect on the financial statements of the Company.